Chartered Accountant ANZ: An accidental entrepreneur

Early on in my business venture, I was asked to participate in a 4-person panel, Entrepreneurs in Conversation. I was excited and at the same time intimidated by the prospect. I wondered what the heck had to offer to this conversation? I was just an ordinary person finding my way in the business world.

After an initial moment of self-doubt, I took time to reflect on where I had begun and how far I had come. I was a reluctant entrepreneur. I chose to speak even though I felt a bit unsure about my place on that panel. I realised when we all spoke about our journey in business that we were all very different. My path to entrepreneurship started later than the other contributors on the panel and still all of our stories were valid examples of determination and hard work on the path to success.

My odyssey from a corporate life as a Chartered Accountant to the life of an entrepreneur has been filled with many challenges. I did not follow a defined plan… most of it just happened. When my first born was toddler old, our household of 3 was not in balance. With two professional parents trying to juggle work and family life, I made the decision to be a full-time stay-at-home mum. This was the first time in my life that I had left leave a job without a concrete plan to return.

Intellectually this time was a challenging move for me. I had gone from a very stimulating environment where I was challenged constantly, to the life of domesticity. This was also very challenging, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t challenged in the same way than I had been in my corporate career. I had a lot of great conversations with my “mum” friends about our kids, we formed our own community and filled ours and our children’s lives with a lot of fun and activities. Despite my best efforts I still felt there was something missing and that was the intellectual engagement, challenge and stimulation I had so enjoyed in my corporate career.

My odyssey from a corporate life as a Chartered Accountant to the life of an entrepreneur has been a long and windy one. I did not follow a defined plan… most of it just happened. When my first born was toddler old, our household of 3 was not in balance. With two professional parents trying to juggle work and family life, I made the decision to be a full-time stay-at-home mum. This was the first time in my life that I had left leave a job without a concrete plan to return.

Intellectually this time was a challenging move for me. I had gone from a very stimulating environment where I was challenged constantly, to the life of domesticity. This was also very challenging, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t challenged in the same way than I had been in my corporate career. I had a lot of great conversations with my “mum” friends about our kids, we formed our own community and filled ours and our children’s lives with a lot of fun and activities. Despite my best efforts I still felt there was something missing and that was the intellectual engagement, challenge and stimulation I had so enjoyed in my corporate career.

“My yearning for ‘something more’ disappeared immediately and I knew this was what I wanted to do.”-Michele Mccolloch

From that point, I trusted myself to make this happen. I connected with the right people, at the right time and my internal creativity and thought process flowed freely. There were road blocks along the way, but they only made me more determined and taught me to ask for help.

Now when my daughter asks me “How did you know what you wanted to do with your life?” my answer is, all of my life experience came together in that one moment and I made the decision by drawing on all of the information I had accumulated at that time.

In short, I made the decision with the information I had at the time.

While I sat on the panel speaking of my experiences among intentional entrepreneurs, I realised that my journey was no less valid because I was an accidental entrepreneur. At the end of the day we were all creative and hardworking people who had a great idea and a lot of determination to make it happen. We all trusted ourselves to use the knowledge we had amassed so far and to ask for help when we needed it… we did what we had to do to get our product to market and make a difference.

So, whether you’re a parent or a teenager trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up, trust yourself to make the right decision using all of the information you have at hand.

I never imagined I would be where I am today… you are full of possibilities and who knows where your business life may take you. Trust yourself.